224:1
V ers. 20. — Quare data est misero lux? 2. Aeterna contemplantes terrenam prosperitatem refugiunt. — In Scriptura sacra nonnunquam lucis appellatione prosperitas, noctis autem nomine hujus mundi adversitas designatur. Unde et bene per Psal- mistam dicitur: Sicut tenebrae ejus, ita et lumen ejus ( Psal. cxxxviii, 12). Quia enim sancti viri ita prospe- ritatem saeculi despicientes calcant, sicut et adversi- tatem ejus calcantes tolerant, per magnam mentis celsitudinem mundi sibi et adversa et prospera sub- sternentes, dicunt: Sicut tenebrae ejus, ita et lumen ejus. Acsi apertius dicant: Sicut intentionis nostrae fortitudinem ejus tristia non premunt, ita hanc nec blanda corrumpunt.
第二十節。——「受苦難的人為何有光賜給他呢？」第二。默想永恆之事者逃避地上的順境。——在聖經中，順境有時以光為名來標明，而這世界的逆境則以夜為名來標明。因此，詩人也說得好：「黑暗和光明，在你看來都是一樣」（詩篇一三八篇12節）。因為聖徒既如此輕看並踐踏世上的順境，正如他們也踐踏並忍受其逆境，藉著心靈極大的崇高，把世上逆境與順境都置於自己腳下，他們便說：「其黑暗如何，其光明也如何。」彷彿更明白地說：正如它的憂患不能壓制我們心志的剛強，照樣它的媚惑也不能敗壞這心志。
Verse 20. — 'Why is light given to him that is in misery?' 2. Those who contemplate eternal things flee earthly prosperity. — In sacred Scripture, sometimes prosperity is designated by the name of light, and the adversity of this world by the name of night. Whence also it is well said by the Psalmist: 'As its darkness, so also its light' (Ps. 138:12). For because holy men so despise and trample down the prosperity of the world, just as they also endure its adversity by trampling it down, subjecting to themselves both the adverse and the prosperous things of the world through the great loftiness of their mind, they say: 'As its darkness, so also its light.' As if they said more openly: As its sorrowful things do not press down the strength of our intention, so neither do its alluring things corrupt it.
224:2
Sed quia haec, ut diximus, bo- norum mentem etiam cum non sublevant, d pertur- bant, sancti viri, qui se in hujus exsilii aerumna mi- seros cognoscunt, clarescere in ejus prosperitate refugiunt. Unde bene nunc dicitur: Quare data est misero lux? Lux enim miseris datur, quando ii qui sublimia contemplantes, esse se in hac peregrinatione miseros agnoscunt, claritatem transitoriae prosperi- tatis accipiunt. Et cum valde defleant quia tarde ad patriam redeunt, tolerare insuper honoris onera compelluntur. Amor eos aeternorum conterit, et gloria de temporalibus arridet. Qui dum cogitant 140 quae sint quae in infimis tenent, et quae sint quae de subli- mibus non vident;
但因這些事物，如我們所說，即使不高舉義人的心靈，卻也擾亂它，所以聖徒既知道自己在這流放的困苦中乃是可憐的，便逃避在其順境中發光耀。因此如今說得好：「受苦難的人為何有光賜給他呢？」因為光賜給那些可憐的人，就是當那些默想崇高之事、承認自己在此客旅中乃是可憐的人，領受了短暫順境的光輝之時。他們雖然極其痛哭自己這麼遲才歸回故鄉，卻反倒被迫承擔尊榮的重擔。對永恆之事的愛磨損他們，榮耀卻從暫時之物向他們微笑。他們一面思想那些他們置於卑下之地的是何等，那些他們在崇高之境所未得見的又是何等；
But because these things, as we have said, disturb the mind of the good even when they do not exalt it, holy men, who know themselves to be wretched in the hardship of this exile, flee from shining forth in its prosperity. Whence it is now well said: 'Why is light given to him that is in misery?' For light is given to the wretched, when they who, contemplating sublime things, acknowledge themselves to be wretched in this pilgrimage, receive the brightness of transitory prosperity. And though they greatly bewail that they return so late to their fatherland, they are moreover compelled to bear the burdens of honour. The love of eternal things wears them down, and glory smiles upon them from temporal things. And while they consider what those things are which they hold in the lowest place, and what those are which they do not see among the sublime;
224:3
quae sint quae in terra fulciunt, quae autem de coelestibus perdiderunt, prosperitatis suae moerore mordentur; quia etsi vident nequaquam se ab ea funditus opprimi, pensant tamen sollicite cogitationem suam in amore Domini et in ejus dis- pensatione partiri. Unde bene cum dicit: Quare data est misero lux? protinus adjungit:
又思想那些在地上扶持他們的是何等，那些他們已從屬天之事失落的又是何等，便為自身的順境而被憂傷咬齧；因為他們雖看見自己絕未被順境徹底壓倒，卻仍憂慮地衡量如何在對主的愛與其職分之間分配自己的心思。因此，當他說「受苦難的人為何有光賜給他呢」時，隨即補充說：
what those things are which prop them up on earth, and what those are which they have lost of heavenly things, they are gnawed by grief at their own prosperity; for although they see that they are by no means utterly overwhelmed by it, they yet anxiously weigh how to divide their thought between the love of the Lord and its dispensation. Whence, well, when he says: 'Why is light given to him that is in misery?' he straightway adds: